Improvement in the manufacture of wrought-iron from the ore



H; BOARDMAN. Making Wrought-Iron Direbt from Ore.

No. 48,478. Patented June 257, 1865.

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f7 lnveln'ton AM. PNOTD-LITHO. C0. N.Y. (OEBURNE'S PROCESS) UNITEDSTATES PATENT QFFICE,

HORACE BOARDMAN, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR T0 HIMSELF AND KELLY, DEMlLT & CO., OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON FROM THE ORE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,478., dated June27,1865.

To all whom it may concern: 7

' Be it known that I, HoR'AoE BOARDMAN, of the city, county, and Stateof New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in theManufacture of VVrought-Iron Directly from the Ore and I do herebydeclare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming partof this specification.

This invention consists in the construction of a smelting or reducingfire, in combination with a gas or eombustioncham her, with tuyeres foradmitting atmospheric air, and provided with openings in thedivision-wall between the reducing-fire and a gas or combustion chamher,so arranged as to permit the ignited gases at a high temperature to actdirectly upon the ore while it is in contact with the carbonaceous fuelwithin the reducing-fire, the gases being at the same time aided intheir passage through the openings in the division-wall by a Vacuum inthe upper portion of the reducingfire, by means of a steam-jet or anyequivalent device, of which there are many, to effect this result.

It also consists in combining this smelting or reducing fire with areverberatory furnace and a balling-hearth, so that the converted ore ina metallic state can be separated from the cinder or slag and heballed,ready for the shin gling-hammer, while the escaping gases fromthe grate of the reverberatory furnace, having been applied to heat theballing-hearth, are then conveyed to the gas-chamber, and after receiving a second portion of oxygen are made to aid in smelting and deoxidizingthe ore, thus greatly reducing both the consumption of fuel and thelaborin the process ofmaking wrought- 1ron.

Figure l is a longitudinal vertical section, showing the means ofcarrying out my invention applied to a reverberatory furnace,substantially such as is commonly used for balling iron. Fig. 2 is ahorizontal section in the plane indicated by the line :0 m, Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts in bothfigures.

A is the grate at one end of the reverberatory furnace, and separatedfrom the ballinghearth B by the bridge-wall G in the usual manner.

At the opposite end of the balling-hearth to that at which the grate Ais arranged there is a second hearth, D, which is elevated above andinclined downward toward the ballinghearth.

Above the rear end of the hearth D is the reducing-fire F, communicatingwith a chamber, E, above and in front of the said fire and chimney, andnearer to the balling-hearth is the upright gas chamber G, separatedfrom the reducing-fire F and chimney E by a partitionwall, H. Thechimney E and chamber G may be of any height necessary to obtain aproper draft, and the chamber G is furnished at the top with a damper,S.

Into the upper part of the chimney E there is introduced a steam-pipe,I, for the introduction of a jet of steam, to create the necessary draftin the reducing-fire Without making it of great height. In the back ofthe chimney E, at a suitable height, there is an opening, a, for theintroduction of the ore and the fuel necessary for its deoxidation andreduction, said opening being furnished with a shutter, b,which is onlyopened for the introduction of the ore and fuel. In the lower part ofthe back of the reducing-fire there are suitable working-holes, c c.

At a short distance above the top of the reverberatory furnace anysuitable number of tuyeres d I, connected with a blowing apparatus, areinserted into the front wall of the gaschamber G, opposite to holes e ein the partition-wall H. On a level with these tuyeres pas sages g g areformed in the side walls of the reducing-fire h, communicating with thechamber G, and into these passages are inserted tuyeres ff, opposite toholes do, which, like 0 e, communicate with the reducingfire F. Justbelow the chamber G tuyeres h h enter the furnace in an obliquedirection, pointing toward the lower part of the reducin g-fire. Thetuyeres d Z,ff, and h It may be all supplied with air from one blowingapparatus.

The operation is as follows: Coke, charcoal, or bituminous coal isintroduced through the opening a and piled up on the back part of thehearth D and until it fills the reducing-fire F up to the holes 6 e, andabove this point the fire is filled up nearly to the opening a with oreand fuel, mixed or in alternate layers, the ore being pulverized orbroken into small pieces.

, previously introduced diminishes.

The shutter b is then closed. Fire is made and lighted in the grate A toheat the reverberatory furnace. and the fuel in the reducing-fire Fignited. The fuel in the fire F serves the two purposes of holding upthe ore in a position to be acted upon by the gaseous products ofcombustion from the grateA to act upon it, and also supplying carbon tooperate in connection with said gases upon the ore while all are at ahigh temperature. While a portion of the highly-heated gases from thefire A passes up through the fuel and the ore in the fire F, theremainder passes up into the chamber G, where it is met by thejets ofair from the tuyeres d d, and the combustible portions thereby ignited,and a part of them carried with the air through the holes 6 6 into thereducing-fire, and thus by intensifying the heat of the said fire madepowerful aids in both deoxidizing and melting the ore. Fresh ore andfuel are supplied from time to time through the opening a as the volumeof the ore and fuel The airintroduced by the tuyeres h It meets anyportion of the unconsumed fuel that may come down with the ore, and itsaction upon this and the gases passing off from the reverberatoryfurnace intensifies the heat at this point and also assists in forcingthe said gases into the reducing-fire.

The working-holes 0 c at the bottom of the reducing-fire enable aworkman, with a suitable implement, to move forward the stock toward theballing-hearth B as fast as it arrives .in a deoxidized and melted stateupon the hearth D, and to work down the orefrom above.

The deoxidized and melted ore is pushed forward along the hearth D tothe balling-hearth B, on which thegballing process is conducted, in theusual manner.

It may be desirable to enlarge the chamber G, as shown in red lines inFig. 1, at the point Where the tuyeres (If are inserted, in order toprovide for the ignition, by the air enterin g from the tuyeres, of thegases passing up the said chamber-flue G before they enter the fire F.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The reducing-fire F, combined with the gas-chamber G and its tuyeres,substantially 'as described, for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination and arrangement of said reducing-fire with areverberatory furnace and balling-hearth, in the manner described, sothat escaping combustible gases from the said furnace or hearth can beused, when ignited by blasts of atmospheric air, for deoxidizing andsmelting the ore in the said reducing-fire, as herein set forth.

3. Subjecting theore in a reducing-fire while mixed or in contact withcarbonaceous fuel to the action of the escaping gases from the fire onthe grate A, the gases being ignited by the introduction of atmosphericair, substantially as herein described.

H. BOARDMAN.

Witnesses:

HENRY T. BROWN, J. W. OooMBs.

